EVERETT — For the Mariner boys soccer team, there was a bunch of scoring chances on Monday night, which meant a 1-1 tie with Jackson was something of a disappointment.
For the Timberwolves, it was something of a relief.
Though the Marauders had several shots from around the goal that just missed, particularly in the second half, the game was decided by single first-half goals by both teams. Jared Davis delivered for Jackson midway through the opening period and Mariner’s Diego Casillas responded roughly a minute later, with those goals standing up through the rest of regulation and 10 minutes of overtime.
Afterward, Marauders coach Vince DeSimone could only smile and shake his head with frustration.
“We played good,” he said, “but we just could not finish. I don’t know what it is. It’s just a curse on us. We can dominate the whole game … (but) now we have to work on finishing.”
Jackson coach Brett Norton, meanwhile, said he was “happy with the draw. … Coming to Mariner, this is always a tough place to play. They’re a great team, well coached, and very passionate when they play at home. But I thought we played well.”
Mariner was the more persistent offensive team in the game’s early minutes, but it was Jackson that struck first. Just over 20 minutes into the game, the T-wolves had a free kick from about 30 yards out on the left side and Jared Davis sent a long ball toward the goal that was headed into the left side of the net by Olson.
“That’s something we’ve been working on at trainings the last couple of weeks,” Norton said. “Just getting some crosses into the box and getting a head on it. That’s how a lot of goals are scored nowadays and we were fortunate enough to get a free kick low in the attacking zone and we got a ball right in the mixer, we got a head on it, and it went in.”
The T-wolves had barely finished celebrating the goal when Mariner got the equalizer off of a corner kick opportunity. Abdullah Sabah delivered the ball to teammate Diego Casillas in front of the goal and his header found the left side of the net.
The Marauders kept up the pressure through most of the second half, with three chances in particular that missed the goal by perhaps a combined 10 feet. Midway through the period, Casillas just missed the net twice with a pair of blasts from out in front. Minutes later Lamin Dampha also narrowly missed from near the right post, leaving DeSimone shaking his head in disbelief at the Mariner bench.
“We’re pretty happy with these kids,” DeSimone said. “We’ve got a lot of new kids on this team and we’re trying them in different positions they’ve never played before. They’re adjusting to each other. But once we start scoring goals, we’re going to be all right. But right now we’re just waiting for that one guy who’s going to finish.”
Norton was pleased with the way his team withstood Mariner’s offensive threats.
“We knew that was coming,” he said. “(The Marauders) play extremely well at home, and I told our guys that they were going to be high pressure and they’re going to want the win. We knew they were going to have a lot of opportunities and we just had to weather it.”
At Mariner H.S.
Goals—Jackson: Jake Olson. Mariner: Diego Casillas. Goalkeepers—Jackson: Danny Scott. Mariner—Drexel Cardona. Records—Jackson 1-1-1 league, 1-2-2 overall. Mariner 1-1-1, 1-3-1.
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